State Marijuana Programs

Although marijuana is illegal under federal statutes, 15 of the United States as well as Washington, DC, have medical marijuana programs currently in place. While these programs vary slightly, there are a number of similarities among them. All state programs stipulate which illnesses can be treated with marijuana and apply to patients diagnosed with illnesses such as cachexia, cancer, chronic pain, epilepsy and other seizure disorders, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, nausea, migraine, arthritis, and Crohn’s disease. Further, 14 of these 16 programs allow patients to cultivate their own cannabis plants (the two that do not allow personal cultivation are DC and New Jersey), but stipulate the number of mature and immature plants allowed by law. Additionally, each of these programs state the maximum amount of marijuana that patients can legally possess.

In addition to stipulations on the amount of marijuana and cannabis plants a patient or their caregiver can possess and cultivate, the majority of state-run medical marijuana programs require patients to register with the state and be issued a medical marijuana identification card. This is meant to protect patients from wrongful arrest, as what is legal for them is still illegal for citizens that do not possess prescriptions and ID cards.

Following is a list of states that currently have medical marijuana programs in place, as well as the year that the medical marijuana bill was passed in that state: Alaska (1998), Arizona (2010), California (1996), Colorado (2000), Washington, DC (2010), Hawaii (2000), Maine (1999), Maryland (2003), Michigan (2008), Montana (2004), Nevada (2000), New Jersey (2010), New Mexico (2007), Oregon (1998), Rhode Island (2006), Vermont (2004), and Washington (1998).

While patients and dispensaries (marijuana shops) can legally use and sell marijuana in these states, they still face arrest and property seizure by federal law enforcement, as marijuana is strictly illegal under federal law. Why is the federal government depriving its citizens of a beneficial drug which has been voted legal by more than 50% of these states’ populations? Why is the United States arresting law-abiding citizens for taking (or just holding) their medicine, and shutting down the shops that legally provide it to them? It is time for the US government to adopt a federal medical marijuana law, eliminating the legal grey area that haunts marijuana patients and those that provide them with their medication, while allowing every American citizen (that suffers from a legitimate disease) to benefit from marijuana’s medicinal properties.

Get more in-depth information about each state’s medical marijuana program on this page provided by NORML, a campaign for the legalization of marijuana.